Challenge and Fun

In our Acting class, we started a new in class activity which is Improv activity. I really like it because of two reasons, first of all it can bring me so much fun, second of all it is a challenge for me which also helps me to improve my acting skills. As an actor in a live play the most important thing is that you can never kill the play which means no matter what happens you have to go with it. Improv perfectly trains me to be better at dealing with different situations. I wish we can do more those activities when we have time in class, so we can all be better actors.

I enjoy its process and how it suprise me every time because I can never know what is going to happen. For example, my favorite game is one person makes a motion and another person comes up a line, and the person doing motion have to say a line which goes along with the line before. I still remember there was one when William was digging a hole and another person said that here is baby, then William said that yes, and I am making a tomb. It sounds so creepy and dark, but it worked super well in the situation. In those game it can always bring us so much fun because once we all know each other we can make fun of each other to make the whole game looks better. For instance, once when we were playing the psychosis game. Charlotte was copying Wiebke’s way of talking and complaining which was so and I couldn't control myself to not laugh. After all, this is a great activity to have fun in class.

This activity can also help us to improve our skills. As I said before, you can never know what will happen on stage in a play. For example, in the fall play Peter Pan Wendy should fall with her head toward to the stage left, however there was once she fall down to another side which changed all the blocking to a opposite direction. I was so glad that we fixed it, so no one can tell we did wrong. If all the actors was so bad at dealing those situations, it will mass up the whole play which is so bad and no one ever wants this to happen. Then the Improv activity helps me to do better in those situations because every time we do the game we all need to react quick so the scene will looks good and smooth. When we put all our effort in the process we can learn so much from every round which can achieve a better self of us.

I didn't do any of these games before until this year, and I want to do it more and more in 
the future not only because I love this game and it brings fun, but also because I do learn 
things from it and it is such a big help for me as an actor! Hope we all enjoyed our classes and we will all do better in the future!

Put the gun down

https://youtu.be/ELYjiGKwSo4

stage dance

https://youtu.be/-Rot9uaVO8s

If you can make it better, Just Do It!

“Don't let fear or insecurity stop you from trying new things. Believe in yourself. Do what you love. And most importantly, be kind to others, even if you don't like them.” (Stacy London). My life now is just like this quote, and it is brand new page for me. Since I decided to major in theater last week, I started taking as many advantages as I can to improve my understanding and abilities about theater. That is why I am trying to be all different kinds characters now. This week in acting class, I am a detective who should be completely calm in the scene. However, my misunderstanding of ‘calm’ made whole story didn't make any sense. When I noticed my problem, I solve it with different blocking and ending. Finally a reverse ending plus a small movements saved this scene. Thus, sometimes a small change can make a huge difference.

The scene I chose is that a detective is finding the killer of his sister, and the killer is his sister’s husband. When the time he finds the killer, the killer was trying to suicide, and detective does not want him to suicide, so he starts to try convincing him to not suicide. In the original script, detective kills the killer at the end, but we all thought that there was no reason to kill the killer if detective wanted him to live. Then we change the ending to the killer killing detective. After my partner Jack and I ran the scene, all my classmates and Ms. Guarino thought that the way Jack killed me didn’t make any sense because it happened to sudden. It was very easy to make audience confused when things happened too quick, especially when we only had a part of the story which gave us more difficulties. In order to figure out why the scene is too sudden to understand. I asked feedback from all my classmates and Ms. Guarino, and they all think that I should have more movements than before. To be honest, I was not aware of that until the time they told me. I understood this character who should acts so calm all the time, so I didn't move at all in the whole scene which made the last shooting looked so awkward. I read the script and analyzed the story again, and I finally worked this scene out. I decided that I should be undefended myself when the first time I see Jack is trying to suicide, then I move extremely slow toward to Jack while I am talking to him. At the end of the scene, I try to take Jack’s weapon and I am accidentally killed by him. Finally Jack kills himself because he feels too guilty. As we worked this out, I have improved my understanding of characters and  scene which helped me to make these changes to make whole scene can be understand much better.

I am so glad I have all those great classmates and teacher who always lead me when I get lost, and I am also excited to work more on different characters and different scenes. Through this scene, I learned more on making my own changes of the scene to make it works the best for me, and it also teaches me that a little change can make a huge difference!

A little less noise there

“A little less noise there.” (J.M. Barrie). This was the first line we used as a joke in the theater, and it never stops. I still remember the first day we barely know each other. However after two months working together, we are now like a family, and we build not only character’s relationships, but also relationships between all of us. I was so nervous during the audition because I had to run the scene with Charlotte who is a excellent actress because I had saw two of her plays, and she did a great job in both of them. To be honest, I am a big fan of Charlotte, and I was so excited and happy that I could work with her in this play. When we had been working together three weeks, I found out that everyone in this play loves theater, and they are all funny and talented. Through this play, I not only learned more about theater, but also built solid and amazing friendships with everyone. I want to thank all of you for giving me such a precious and happy first play experience.

Because this is my first time participate in a English play, I had a hard time figuring out my characters. I would not be as good as I am now if Ms. Guarino, Rachel, Anna and Sam didn’t help me with lines and character’s understanding. I would not be in character so well if Amy and all crew members didn’t help me to find the best costumes and props for me. I would not be so confident and happy if Erin, Wiebke, Charlotte and William didn’t help me to find my position in the play, and Amalia, Maddy, Abi and Dilyara always make me laugh. I also want to give a special thank to William because when we were working together we can always get new ideas for characters, and I always feel like that we are playing together instead of doing an act.

After all, this was a great play, and it feels so differently when I was on the stage than sitting in the audience. I wish that I can work with all these awesome people together more in the future. I love all of you, and I am so proud to say that I finally get on the right track and I could not be happier.

In class writing

I am a detective who is trying to find the killer who accidentally killed my sister, and the killer is also my sister's husband. In this situation, I see he puts the gun to himself to try to suicide, and I don't want him to get hurt, so I tried to convince him by putting my weapon down and talking so peacefully. I also want to stop him, so I walk slowly toward him during the coversation, and finally I hold his gun down. However, he doesn't want to live anymore, and he also thinks that I don't really care about my sister and him because I act so peaceful and emotionless, so he shoot me and then suicide.

J&J group scene

http://hollywoodactingworkshop.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/No_Intent_-_2_men.pdf